Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 1.2.4 (2.4)

Summary: Such a thought is sinful even for a tested servant of God.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:10–12

ἡ δὲ ἔφη· Μηδαμῶς ἐπὶ τὸν δοῦλον τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο. ἀλλὰ πάντως ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν σου ἀνέβη περὶ αὐτῆς. ἔστιν μὲν τοῖς δούλοις τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ τοιαύτη βουλὴ ἁμαρτίαν ἐπιφέρουσα· πονηρὰ γὰρ βουλὴ καὶ ἔκπληκτος εἰς πάνσεμνον πνεῦμα καὶ ἤδη δεδοκιμασμένον, ἐὰν ἐπιθυμήσῃ πονηρὸν ἔργον, καὶ μάλιστα Ἑρμᾶς ὁ ἐγκρατής, ὁ ἀπεχόμενος πάσης ἐπιθυμίας πονηρᾶς καὶ πλήρης πάσης ἁπλότητος καὶ ἀκακίας μεγάλης.

English · Claude translation

And she said, “Far be this thing from the servant of God! But certainly it rose up in your heart about her. For God's servants such a thought brings sin; for it is an evil and shocking thought for a most reverent spirit, already tested, to desire an evil deed, and especially for Hermas the self-controlled, who abstains from every evil desire and is full of all simplicity and great innocence.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:10–12 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 6–71 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 25, 1913); made independently of existing English translations.

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Herm. Vis. 1.2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/1/2/4/).

Plain text

Herm. Vis. 1.2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/1/2/4/).